Preserving a piece of US Maritime History - invaluable

The USS Olympia is a cruiser that fought in the Spanish American War in 1898 and has been preserved in Philadelphia. She's a one of a kind ship, a national historic monument, and in danger. She needs approximately $10-15 million in repairs to keep her a viable museum for years to come. If you have the resources, or connections to those resources, please consider helping. (full disclosure - there is no financial benefit to me to ask the question - we need to save this ship for posterity). Please contact me at 612-599-1935 or bdskon@fedex.com if you have additional questions.

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Friday, September 28, 2012

I don't usually get political on my blog - but this is true


A history lesson you will not find in the news, weather TV or Print. You won’t find it in our schools either, I wonder why?
DO YOU REMEMBER JANUARY 3, 2007?

Your history lesson for today. Some people have short memories…..
I’ve been saying this for years, but this email probably explains it
better and more clearly. This is NOT a political message, but rather
a clarification to remind us all of the correct facts.

Remember that on October 9, 2007, 11 months before our “economic
crisis” occurred (that was actually created), the Dow hit its highest
point ever, closing at 14,164.53 and reaching 14,198.10 intra-day
level 2 days later. Unemployment was steady at 4.7%. But things were
already being put in place to create the havoc we’ve all been
experiencing since then. And it all started, as this email explains,
on January 3, 2007.

I'm sending this to each of you regardless of your party preferences
because I believe it is something you may not have considered.

This tells the story, why Bush was so “bad” at the end of his term.

Don't just skim over this, it's not very long, read it slowly and let
it sink in. If in doubt, check it out!!!

The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was
actually January 3rd 2007, which was the day the Democrats took over
the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the
110th Congress.

The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the
first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy
that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this: January 3rd, 2007
was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress.

At the time:
The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
The
Unemployment rate was 4.6%
George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH

Remember the day...
January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House
Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate
Banking Committee. The economic meltdown that happened 15 months
later was in what part of the economy? BANKING AND FINANCIAL
SERVICES!

Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping
5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR
Fannie
Mae
and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in
2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy.

And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie
Mac?        OBAMA And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?  OBAMAand the Democrat Congress.

So when someone tries to blame Bush. REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007....
THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and
the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat
Party.

Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 &
2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused
them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush
entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running
until
Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a
massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009.

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the
last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five
years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After
that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that
includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a
nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted
for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January
20th.

There is no way this will be widely publicized,unless each of us sends it on

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Navy: 4 missile cruisers to remain in service - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Navy: 4 missile cruisers to remain in service - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Good...........'nuff said.

USS RANGER CV 4 - a great name in US Navy History

USS Ranger (CV-4) at Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia, 7 June 1934.   Photographed from a U.S.A.A.C Plane.  NHHC Photograph Collection, NH 93546.

On 26 September 1931, the keel to USS Ranger (CV 4) was laid at Newport News, Virginia. She was the first US Navy ship designed and constructed as an aircraft carrier. Amongst her many notable duties during World War II, she provided air cover for Operation Torch (the North African Invasion) in November 1942 and Operation Leader (raid on German shipping at Norway) in October 1943. Following training and aircraft transportation duty in early 1944, Ranger was overhauled and sent to the Pacific, where she prepared air groups for combat operations. In October 1946, she was decommissioned and was sold for scrapping in January 1947.26 Sep 1931: Keel to USS Ranger (CV 4) was laid (8 photos)

Monday, September 24, 2012

CDR Salamander: How Do You Say, "To H311 With You" in Arabic?

CDR Salamander: How Do You Say, "To H311 With You" in Arabic?: Hmmmm. Basics . I, Sal, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreig...


I, Wharf Rat, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Fort Worth joins the fleet!

Sailors assigned to the Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) man the rails during her commissioning at Galveston, Texas.

USS FORTH WORTH LCS 3 joins the fleet!
US Navy Photo
Commissioned 9/22/2012



Sunday, September 23, 2012

In Memory of Lt. Col. Chris Raible: CO VMA-211 | SLDInfo

In Memory of Lt. Col. Chris Raible: CO VMA-211 | SLDInfo

This weekend, June 22/23 I had the priveledge of visiting with Marines from Yuma that brought up two Harriers to the Duluth, MN Air Show.  They knew the two Marines killed in this attack and to a man, are honored to have known Lt. Col. Raible, are pissed, and are ready to take th fight to the enemy.